Some coastal people surrender their land to property frenzy
Some coastal people surrender their land to property frenzy
SUNDA STRAIT COAST, West Java (JP): "Looking for a plot of
land, sir?" asked the woman in her 40s.
"What's the price?"
"Rp 350,000 (US$140) per square meter, and it's located next
to a street near the beach," she explained.
"Okay, I'll take one square meter then," I joked.
Maryati smiled, but it was obvious she didn't want to believe
I was not as rich as she thought.
Like many locals, Maryati always thinks that people in private
cars bearing Jakarta license plates are rich and clever.
They translate "clever" as one who can dupe the less
sophisticated, or uneducated, locals.
"Sometime in the near future, the clever people from Jakarta
will ban our kids from swimming at the beach," said Cece, an old
man in Anyer.
He vowed not to sell even an inch of his 5,000-square-meter
plot near Anyer to outsiders.
"I'll keep my land so that my grandchildren, my great
grandchildren and all local kids living around can still have
beach for swimming in their own hometown," said the 66-year-old.
"I've also told my children to carry on my vow when I die."
He said his heart bleeds every time he sees his relatives,
neighbors and friends parting with their ancestral land due to
the lure of money.
"At first, they looked so happy with plenty of money in their
hands, but now life is so difficult for them as they can not
afford to buy proper homes to live in," he said.
Deni, who owns a vast area in an ideal location adjacent to
the massive Lippo project, also balked at selling her land.
"I will never let my land to be occupied by outsiders at
whatever price," said the woman who runs a restaurant on her
land.
Like Cece, Deni said several people had approached her with
fantastic offers.
"Money doesn't last, but this land does," she said.
"It's enough for us learning from the lessons around us."
But not everybody suffers after selling their property.
"My father now has two vehicles he uses for public
transportation and nice farmland he got from selling our land in
Karangbolong beach few years ago," said Yani. "It supports our
daily living even though we're now strangers at our own beach."
Unlike sluggish growth in traditional resort areas of Puncak,
Bandung and Bogor, land prices along the coast of the Sunda
Strait are rocketing.
"Three or four years ago, the price of land located closed to
the beach was around Rp 100,000 per square meter, " said Agus, a
land broker. "It has now jumped markedly to between Rp 250,000 to
Rp 350,000 per square meter."
Effects
Pandeglang councilor Abdul Rahman warned the activities of
developers would bring both positive and negative effects.
"In the current world of globalization where all countries
rally to attract investors, nobody will be able to stop the
demand as long as they preserve nature and local tradition."
The night life in the area, particularly in Anyer and Carita,
has also taken off, with streets lit by the neon signs of discos,
pubs, cafes and karaoke houses. There are also brothels,
identified by kerosene lamps and bamboo fences.
Main activities of local residents were once fishing and
farming. But today's teenagers no longer want to work in the
fields or go to sea, instead seeking jobs in hotels or escorting
tourists on their motorbikes.
"Even if the salary is not big, I'm proud to be part of the
modern world by working in such a swank hotel," said waitress
Yanti.
Other new jobs have been created. Some become guards of vacant
plots. Although they are not paid, the owners allow them to plant
or sell coconuts on the property.
Those watching beach plots charge visitors Rp 3,000 per person
and Rp 5,000 per vehicle. They reap big profits on crowded
weekends and New Year's Eve.
Clean and tidy
"The land owner, a Jakarta businessman, allows me to collect
as much money as I can for myself as long as I can keep this site
clean and tidy before he builds a big hotel next year," said
Maryati, the same woman trying to sell land.
She does not know what the future holds when the hotel is
completed, scheduled for built 1998. "But I hope the owner will
hire my daughters to work at the hotel later," she said.
Abral, a former fisherman, has forsaken the tough competition
of the sea for a life as a public transportation driver and goods
trader. "A life at sea is a very unpredictable business," he
said.
Local youngsters have also been recruited into the
development.
They are on the beaches, but they are not swimming. Instead,
they hawk surfboards and inner tubes for rent.
The economically disparate worlds is most jarring on weekends.
Local women dressed in faded attire offer mats, tires, T-shirts
and food to the throng of better dressed visitors on the beach.
"We never imagined this unhappy ending would happen to us as
fast as today," Cece said.
But some outsiders also learn a hard lesson.
Businessman Iwan Dharma, who spent more than Rp 600 million
for the purchase of two condominiums at Carita, said the after-
sales service of the developers was shabby.
"The electricity was off for three consecutive days, the
ceiling leaked and so many facilities mentioned in the brochures
have not yet been built," complained the owner of a backpackers'
hotel. "I feel I was badly cheated."
"Service at some hotels, including four-star ones, is also
poor. A Carita Beach Resort hotel officer said this was due to
lack of employees.
Robert Sinaga, a senior member of the local hotel and
restaurant owners association, said many tourists complained
about shoddy service at some hotels for many years, but no
efforts had been made to solve the problems.
"Their poor service will one day ruin the overall image of
hotels on this coast," Robert said. (bsr)